Forever After: Stories Unbound
by SailorAUWriter
Summary: A month has passed after the events of Epic Winter. Apple White must find her path with many others after losing not only her story's enemy, but what was meant to be her prince. Without even that how will she ever get her happily ever after? She decides she needs some space, but will she be able to move on? What happens if she can't let it go? Will Raven give in to help her friend?


A month had passed since the whole epic winter ordeal. Apple White sat alone inside the Hocus Latte. She was so lost in her thoughts that she didn't notice Daring Charming walk in and sit down across from her.

"Earth to Apple! Hello!" Daring waved a hand in her face, finally getting her attention. "Ah, so you can see me! I was beginning to think I had lost my charm! Haha ha ha heh..." He laughed awkwardly before clearing his throat and waiting for her to speak.

Apple frowned at his behavior. "I'm sorry Daring, I know this isn't what we had planned on." She could feel her hands start to shake so she clasped her cup to keep herself from looking too nervous. "About what happened back then... with Rosabella and during the Dragon Games..." She bit her bottom lip not sure what to say.

Daring looked around nervously, rubbing the back of his neck with one hand. "Right... I'm sorry about that..." He sighed and tried focusing on the cup of tea she was holding. "I failed to wake you, something I should have been able to do..." He bit his lip before continuing. "I spoke to Rosabella about it and she said the reason it didn't work is because maybe I hadn't earned the right to be called your prince charming." He looked up at her seeing some shock.

"You told her about that?" Apple wanted to cry from embarrassment, even though the whole school knew she thought they had a mutual agreement not to talk about it to others. With a sigh she calmed down a bit. "So she thinks maybe you hadn't earned it at that point? What about now?" She knew deep down that it wasn't going to work, but part of her had hoped that maybe things could be normal again.

"I think, I am ready now, to be the prince a princess deserves." He looked at her seriously. "I just don't think I am meant to be your prince. Apple, when I turned back to normal it was proof I was on the right course to becoming a true prince charming, but I never would have gotten there without Rosabella. I know it was a one time thing, but when I kissed Rosabella..." He looked away and out the window at the people passing by. With a shaky breath he looked back to Apple full of sincerity. "I think the path I'm meant for, the destiny I'm choosing to follow, is to be with Rosabella. I wish I could say I'm sorry, but I feel like I really do love Rosabella." A weight lifted from his chest as he said what he had been keeping secret for quite some time.

Tears stung her eyes, but she wouldn't let them fall. She knew this was coming, but it still hurt. "It's okay Daring, I understand. If that's really how you feel then you should be with her instead. We can announce it over the MirrorCast tomorrow. There's going to be a lot of talk in the halls, but we both deserve to be happy." She smiled to the best of her abilities.

"Thanks Apple, it really means a lot to me." As they both stood up he went to kiss her cheek, but stopped, opting to just hug her instead. "For what it's worth, I believe we're doing the right thing. I may not be your prince charming, but I know you'll find him. I hope you get the destiny you want, you deserve it after all you've been through." With that Daring left the Hocus Latte.

* * *

The walk back to her dorm was a long one. Raven was still out with Dexter so she had the room to herself. She collapsed on her bed and just stared at the ceiling. "Tomorrow it will be official. Daring and I are breaking up." The tears she had been holding back for so long started coming back. "Daring isn't my prince and Raven refuses to follow our story." Her eyes were brimming with tears about to spill over. She hugged a pillow tightly to her chest, feeling a great weight just pulling her down. "No prince and no enemy. Without them, I can't become the next Snow White. I can't." Her rosy cheeks were streaming with tears. "I have no destiny anymore." She began wailing into her pillow for a good hour or two.

With no more tears left to cry and puffy eyes Apple sat up. She needed time away from everything and to just clear her head. Raven would be coming home soon and her announcement with Daring was tomorrow. Apple looked around the room and staring at her page that Raven had given her she knew what she was going to do, but like everything else it would need to wait until tomorrow.

* * *

The following morning Apple made her way to Headmaster Grimm's office. After a long talk and a call home she left his office and stopped by her room before going to the courtyard where she and Daring were meant to announce their break up. A quick look around her room and the coast was clear. She got to work and cleaned up a few things before heading down to meet up with Daring and Blondie. When she got there Blondie was in the middle of setting up with Maddie.

"Apple, you're here! I mean of course you're here! We are doing this together after all." Daring started rambling on a bit, but after Apple placed a reassuring hand on his shoulder he calmed down. "Thanks Apple, you're a great friend." He smiled starting to feel nervous again.

"Don't worry about it Daring. Just relax, it'll be over and done with in just a few minutes. Did you tell anyone else?" Apple was afraid she wouldn't have time to go through with her plan if everyone was going to be swamping her with questions.

"Well not exactly, I mean I only told one person." Daring was blushing awkwardly. "I told Rosabella what was going to happen today. She's the only one though, I didn't think it'd be right for her to find out with everyone else, you know?" His cheeks were red as he thought about her, something that was short lived as Blondie announced she was ready.

"Heellllllloooooooo, Ever After High! Blondie Lockes here with Ever After High's power couple, Apple White and Daring Charming!" Blondie excitedly announced her two guests while motioning for Maddie to follow her with the camera. She stood between the nervous pair. "After the Dragon Games we all found out that Daring may not be Apple's prince when his kiss didn't wake her! There's more to it than that though! Rumor has it that Daring may have a different princess he's interested in! Now, for the first time, they are ready to open up about everything that has happened since then and that's right folks! You're getting the news from here first!" Blondie moved to the side and gave them a moment to prepare themselves. "Let's start with Daring Charming, Daring, what happened when you tried to wake the sleeping Apple?"

The camera zoomed in on Daring who was momentarily startled by Blondie's overly excited extending of her microphone. "Well at first I thought maybe I was doing something wrong so I tried again, but she still wouldn't wake up. After that I thought 'If my kiss can't wake her up then that must mean I'm not her prince' it was quite a shocking thought at the time." Daring looked over to Apple who was looking more uncomfortable than himself.

Blondie took her mic back and stared into the camera. "You heard it guys, not once, but twice Daring failed to wake what he had thought to be his destined princess! What a fairy fail! But alas, we still have our favorite Apple White with us here today! Apple what is your side of this story?" She turned the mic over to Apple who was doing her best not to look feint.

"Well I was asleep during that part so I had no idea what had been happening. It wasn't until I woke up that I found out Daring's kiss didn't work. Luckily the Evil Queen's poison wasn't really that bad. I just needed c.p.r. in order to breath again, not true love's kiss. As shocked and let down by this as I was I understood Daring wasn't my prince charming. We are only in high school after all and there are plenty of Charmings out there. He just wasn't the one from my story." Apple gave a sheepish smile trying to be light hearted about it all.

"Isn't this hexciting?! There's still more to this couple's story though!" Blondie turned to the pair with excitement just beaming from her. "The people want to know, now that it's clear Daring isn't your prince what does this mean for you two?"

Apple looked to Daring wondering if this was really the right choice. "Well..." She paused a moment as Blondie held the mic up to her face. Daring grabbed a hold of her hand and smiled reassuringly at her. "As everyone knows we aren't meant to be together. If we ever hope to find and follow our destinies there is only one thing we can do." Apple felt like she was about to lose all of her air.

Daring seeing she wasn't well took over answering. "We needed time to figure things out and after a much needed talk we have decided to end things. We are still friends, but as for being a couple, it just isn't written in our stories. For now all we can do is support each other while we figure out what path to take in order to see our stories through. We are both still on the Royal side of things we just need to figure out where our stories go from here is all." Daring winked at Apple who nodded in appreciation.

Maddie was holding back her shock as the once happy couple announced their breakup. This was something Blondie wasn't going to pass up as she swiftly turned the camera to face both Maddie and herself. "I think Maddie's reaction speaks for how we are all feeling about this news!" She turned back to Daring and Apple. "You were both the best and biggest couple of our school! Now that you've broken up is there anyone either of you feel might be the one?"

Apple looked to Daring who went stiff at the question. Before she could pressure them further Apple decided to speak up. "We just decided to break up. For now we have no comments on any future romances. If things do start looking up for either of us, you will all know when we are ready to share it." Apple smiled and let out a sigh of relief as they listened to Blondie end her broadcast. Daring wanted to say something, but she shook her head and held up her hand. "You should go Daring, I'm sure you have a lot you need to talk to a certain someone about." She winked knowing he wanted to talk things over with Rosabella as soon as possible. As for herself she headed back to her dorm room where someone was waiting for her.

* * *

Raven was confused when she came back to her room while on break from class. Everything was normal on her side, but it looked as if someone had played a horrible prank on Apple, hiding all of her things. When Apple came in she immediately tried to explain that it wasn't her, but stopped when she saw the color drain from her cheeks. "Apple is something wrong?" She watched as she bit her lip in an apologetic way. "This isn't a prank is it? What's going on?"

Apple walked over and pulled a suitcase out from under her bed. She hadn't planned on telling anyone anything. "Raven, I'm going home. I need to get away from here for a while. I already talked it over with Headmaster Grimm. He's going to gather the girls together and let them know ahead of everyone else." She tried to walk past her and out of the room, but Raven stopped her.

"You're leaving?! Why!?" Raven couldn't wrap her mind around what her friend was saying.

"Raven, Daring and I just broke up and without you as my enemy I don't even know if I have a story anymore!" Tears began to stream down her face again. "I just need to go home for a while and figure things out."

Raven moved out of her way and stared after her. "Apple, wait! I'm sorry!" It was the only thing she could say after taking in such a shock.

Apple stopped a little bit down the hall. She cleared her face of any tears and smiled back at Raven. "I know, it's not your fault Raven. Goodbye." With that Apple left the school and got into a limo her mother had sent to pick her up. She didn't even bother to look back as the car pulled out and left for her home.


End file.
